Gates, a literary scholar, historian, filmmaker, and best-selling author, looks into how the Black church has molded and transformed the African American experience, from slavery to the present.

To tell the story of the Black church is something of a risk even to a scholar as secure as Gates, for voices in the arena of racial justice have long diminished religion as overly safe and accommodationist.

A scholarly and intimate look at the Black Church’s prodigious history and potential future.

[Gates'] vibrant, incisive The Black Church, a companion book to the new PBS series, leads us along hidden corridors as it unearths revelatory stories while pounding the pulpit with passionate arguments about faith and justice.

... complex and fascinating.

...thoughtful, comprehensive.

This book, a companion to Gates’s PBS series of the same name, features interviews with scholars and ministers to give a thoughtful analysis of the Black church. A gallery of important Black religious leaders and figures, both historic and modern, is a nice addition to the text.

A a brisk and insightful look at how the Black church has succored generations of African Americans against white supremacy.